- An avalanche crushes a six pack terminal in France.
- Doppelmayr’s latest customer magazine focuses on North America overtaking Europe as the company’s largest market and achieving more than 50 percent market share in our highly competitive region.
- Two bears climb a very tall tower on Steamboat’s new Wild Blue Gondola.
- A prototype MND Orizon detachable is under construction at the factory and expected to be operational in early summer for testing. The first customer installation may be in Uzbekistan.
- Sun Peaks resumes construction on the West Bowl Express after a winter break.
- Homewood seek approval for its Madden Gondola in a modified alignment.
- Huff Hills, North Dakota to close following a lease dispute with the mountain’s landowner.
- Tenney Mountain eyes replacing Hornet with a detachable lift.
- Alterra’s CEO discuses lift construction costs and more in a wide ranging interview.
- Plans show four major lifts at the planned Stagecoach Mountain Ranch near Steamboat.
- Legoland New York’s new gondola appears mostly complete with the first Diamond EVO cabins in North America.
- Quebec Ski Resorts Company says if it acquired the lease to Mont-Sainte-Anne, it would install a 10 passenger Doppelmayr gondola in 2025 and two detachable chairlifts in 2026. Resorts of the Canadian Rockies insists the mountain is not for sale.
- The Park City planning Commission delays a decision again on Deer Valley’s proposed Lift 7, citing wildlife concerns.
- Park City’s upcoming Sunrise Gondola will be constructed by Leitner-Poma with Vail Resorts’ first direct drive.
- An unnamed New Hampshire resort is looking for CTEC quad chairs for an upcoming relocation.
Homewood
News Roundup: Eclipse Weekend
- Ikon Pass adds St. Moritz, Switzerland as its sixth European destination.
- A child is hospitalized after falling from Steamboat’s Sunshine Express.
- Another child falls from Park City’s Orange Bubble Express.
- Powder Mountain will auction Timberline chairs this weekend.
- Holiday Mountain removes the long lost D double, plans to eventually replace it with a used triple chair.
- No link but I’m told a hand charge landed on and exploded on top of a Base to Base Gondola cabin last Saturday at Palisades Tahoe during avalanche hazard reduction work. No one was injured but the cabin was damaged.
- Blackcomb cancels summer skiing due to the receding glacier under the Showcase T-Bar.
- Former Jay Peak President Bill Stenger tells his side of the fraud saga in two parts.
- Homewood will hold a master plan update and perhaps address the future of its delivered-but-not-installed D-Line gondola.
- West Mountain continues planning for a backside detachable quad.
News Roundup: Happy Holidays
- Berkshire East names its new high speed quad T-Bar Express.
- Sugarloaf explains how it rebuilt a high speed quad from Big Sky to be as wind resistant as possible.
- Belleayre and Mt. Hood Meadows introduce all new trail maps showing new lifts.
- China Peak’s latest map shows the new Canyon quad and upcoming Firebowl quad.
- Sunday River’s new map shows Barker 6 and Merrill Hill but not Merrill Hill II.
- Mount St. Louis Moonstone celebrates completion of its groundbreaking CA$14 million chairlift.
- Homewood’s new gondola is spotted in a vacant lot in downtown Reno.
- Leitner to build a ropeway for apples in Italy capable of carrying 150 tons per hour.
- Closed Brodie Mountain, Massachusetts is sold to Florida investors.
Homewood Plans D-Line Gondola
Lake Tahoe’s Homewood Mountain Resort has abandoned plans for a private club in favor of remaining open to the public alongside selling club memberships. Homewood hopes this hybrid model will pave the way for installation of a new gondola, which was postponed this summer due to public outcry over privatization. The new gondola is the second recent lift project for JMA Ventures, which just yesterday celebrated the completion of the new Stache Express at its resort in Red Lodge, Montana.
Under a new draft agreement sent to the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority (TRPA), Homewood will remain open to the public in both winter and summer via season passes and daily lift tickets. This should allow the TRPA to approve gondola construction under an existing 2011 master plan. In a statement, TRPA said it is “reviewing the information and is in consultation with Homewood Mountain Resort to understand how the earlier proposal to change the character of the resort’s operation is being revised. This information will help the agency determine if the resort will be required to amend the larger resort master plan. A determination on that will be made before action is taken on the gondola project or any other project application at the resort.”
The gondola, which was already ordered and partially delivered to Homewood, will be built by Doppelmayr and run from the North Lodge to mid-mountain, replacing the Madden triple. The gondola will feature eight place Omega V cabins and become the third D-Line lift in California. The gondola will rise approximately 1,000 vertical feet, making Homewood’s entire 1,840 foot vertical drop accessible via detachable lifts for the first time. Homewood plans to build a new mid-mountain facility at the top of the gondola, which will be open to the public alongside club members. Pending approval, the new lift could open as soon as the 2024-25 ski season.
News Roundup: City to Mountain
- Leitner-Poma assures the public that recent stopping and swinging on the Roosevelt Island Tram pose no safety issue.
- Doppelmayr secures a five year maintenance and operations contract for the Sterling Vineyards gondola.
- Attendants and mechanics working for Doppelmayr at the Portland Aerial Tram may unionize.
- Garaventa completes the first Auro autonomous operation aerial tramway in Zermatt.
- A gondola in Raleigh, North Carolina?
- Officials release a 360 degree preview of the proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- Belleayre’s new quad will be called Overlook.
- Snow Valley shortens Chair 2 into a beginner lift with the drive terminal from old Chair 1.
- In Quebec, new owners of Mont Grand-Fonds plan a six seat detachable.
- No link but Mammoth tells me Chair 1 will be replaced in 2024.
- Sun Valley plans to replace Seattle Ridge with a six place detachable in ’24. Christmas is next but no timeline yet for that project.
- A judge will decide whether Park City Mountain’s Eagle and Silverlode upgrade projects can proceed in the future.
- Homewood bails on going private, potentially allowing the delivered Madden Gondola to be installed next summer.
- County officials order the nonprofit attempting to reopen Cuchara to stop work, citing safety concerns.
News Roundup: Mineral Basin
- Snowbird proposes replacing both Mineral Basin and Gadzoom with six packs; Brighton plans a six passenger chondola in a new alignment.
- In Quebec, Mont Grand-Fonds plans a new lift for next year.
- Indy Pass adds 20 new North American downhill resorts including Big White, Montana Snowbowl and Shames Mountain.
- SilverStar buys 21 more cabins for the Summit Express Gondola.
- More Omega cabins show up at Homewood for the postponed Madden Gondola.
- Skytrac will build Mt. Ashland’s next new lift.
- Rabbit Hill, Alberta sells to new owners.
- Vail Resorts reportedly shops for another Swiss resort.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire won’t open this season.
- Sugarbush confirms new Heaven’s Gate for 2024.
- Alterra buys Mike Wiegele Heli Skiing.
- Snowriver’s new map shows several new and removed lifts.
- An Austrian ski resort says its 15 passenger pulse gondola was sold to a ski resort in Canada.
- Smugglers’ Notch will continue studying a gondola connection with Stowe.
- Buck Hill and Red Lodge announce public chair sales.
News Roundup: Stop and Go
- Multiple companies take big losses removing the VonRoll skyride in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Snowbird will debut new rooftop tram balconies June 17th.
- Eight people are expected to be charged in the 2021 Italian tramway disaster that killed 14 people.
- Crested Butte lift mechanics file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election.
- British Columbia still hasn’t decided whether to permit a sightseeing gondola or competing ski resort proposal near Chilliwack.
- Poma publishes a new urban gondola highlight book.
- A group opposed to the privatization of Homewood says the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has paused permitting for the project, set to include a new D-Line gondola.
- Critics want Taos’ base to base gondola proposal to go through more detailed environmental analysis than the Forest Service has planned.
- Utah leaders vote to include the Little Cottonwood Gondola in a regional transportation plan.
- Kelly Canyon plans multiple lift upgrades this summer.
News Roundup: Doubles Save the Day
- Many big openings this weekend including Lenawee Express at Arapahoe Basin, Big Red at Whistler, Seven Brothers at Loon Mountain, North Bowl Express at Heavenly, Eagle Peak at Lookout Pass and Black Bear 6 at Camelback.
- Palisades Tahoe launches the Base to Base Gondola tomorrow but it will operate as two separate lifts and close Sunday for more work.
- Vail waits for a weather window to fly the pilot line for Sun Down Express, nears the finish line on Game Creek Express.
- Doppelmayr and Steamboat unwrap Wild Blue cabins.
- Kimberley load tests the Northstar Express following a year of repairs.
- New Sunnyside at Alta won’t be finished by Christmas; the Albion double will spin until it opens.
- The new high speed quad at Telluride won’t open until late January due to labor challenges.
- FourRunner goes down at Stowe and the nearby Sunrise Six isn’t finished yet. Lookout saves the week.
- A “series of setbacks to electrical infrastructure” delays opening of new lifts and the entire Big Boulder ski area.
- Cuchara won’t reopen lift-served skiing this year after all.
- Giants Ridge debuts a new VistaMap.
- Sun Valley launches a website dedicated to next summer’s lift projects.
- As the investigation continues into the Mont-Sainte-Anne gondola incident and the mountain remains closed this weekend, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies seeks a public-private partnership to renew its Quebec infrastructure. Quebec’s Premier isn’t sold on giving public money to RCR.
- The Governor of New Hampshire wants replacement of the Cannon Tram to be voted on by the legislature, a funding mechanism could be selected this year with the earliest possible opening in late 2024.
- Ski Utah previews the upcoming Burns Express at Deer Valley.
- Wisconsin approves a pared down master plan for Granite Peak with two expansion lifts, one on each side of existing terrain.
- Homewood forges ahead with plans to go private for homeowners only.
- The sightseeing gondola proposal in Vernon, British Columbia moves forward.
- An idea to connect Detroit with Windsor, Ontario by 3S gondola is back.
- Construction begins on the new D-Line gondola at a California vineyard.
News Roundup: Three Continents
- Vail Resorts to acquire a majority stake in and operate a Swiss ski resort with 32 lifts.
- A Vermont perspective on why some people are unhappy with Vail.
- Juneau Tram owner Goldbelt takes interest in financing a gondola at Eaglecrest Ski Area.
- Homewood says its business model has failed, plans to turn into a private club with two new lifts.
- Taos seeks Forest Service approval to build a base to base gondola and replace two lifts.
- Jackson Hole finds success keeping reservations post-Covid.
- A river crossing pulse gondola is proposed in Red Deer, Alberta.
- The Sun Valley Company is not for sale, will consider a village to mountain gondola in the future.
- A Boise TV station produces an eight minute summary of Tamarack’s checkered history and plans for the future.
- Alpine-X ends its crowdfunding campaign with $1.4 million raised.
- Sommet Saint-Sauveur calls two mid-season breakdowns of the three year old Sommet Express “unfortunate, unacceptable and incomprehensible.”
- As spotted on Interstate 70, someone’s getting a Leitner-Poma detachable named Snow Flyer.
News Roundup: Wild Times
- Arapahoe Basin becomes the fourth US resort to reopen for skiing during coronavirus, including the soon-to-be-replaced Pallavicini chair for one final run.
- Washington’s Crystal Mountain will host two weeks of socially distanced spring skiing beginning Monday.
- While open for skiing with two high speed quads, Timberline Lodge works to replace the rope on a third and starts building the new Pucci Express all at the same time.
- The only amusement park with a chairlift in Indiana isn’t going out of business after all.
- Many state fair lifts won’t run at all this year: the California State Fair, Minnesota State Fair, Ohio State Fair and Wisconsin State Fair have all been canceled.
- Mt. Roberts Tramway rebrands as Juneau Tram.
- Sunshine Village cancels its entire summer season.
- A local resident continues to push for a San Diego urban gondola.
- One of the only people allowed to enter New Zealand recently is an expert helping to complete The Remarkables’ new D-Line six pack.
- Homewood announces a two year upgrade of Ellis: Skytrac line gear in 2020 and a fresh haul rope, drive terminal and chairs in 2021.
- Coronavirus hurts the bottom line and sale prospects for Jay Peak.